PQRST Pain Assessment

PQRST Pain Assessment

by: Arlene Gentallan

        The PQRST pain assessment is a tool used by medical professionals to determine and interpret the pain experience of a patient. This assessment tool is valuable because pain is subjective. So only the person having the pain is the best person that can accurately describe what he/she is experiencing. The patient's description of his/her pain provides important clues to the underlying medical condition which medical professionals can then analyze to direct management/treatment and patient care.

Provocation / Palliation

 - What are you doing / what conditions may have contributed to the onset of your pain?

• <strenous activity, inhaling deeply, ambulation, early morning, pain while at rest>

 - What relieves your pain? (What makes it better?)

 - What aggravates your pain? (What makes it worse?)

Quality

 - What does your pain feels like? (Describe your pain.)

• <intermittent vs. constant, sharp, dull, crushing>

Region / Radiation

 - Where do you feel the pain?
 - Does it extend to other areas of your body?

 - Where other areas of your body does your pain extend?

Severity

 - From the scale of 0-10, where 0 is no pain and 10 is the worst possible pain, how do you rate your pain?

Timing

 - When did your pain started?

• (time, date, morning, noon, afternoon, night)

 - How long have your experienced your pain? (constant pain)

 - How long does a pain episode last? (intermittent pain)